As part of the European Commission's process to consult stakeholders and gather views on the upcoming EU Cardiovascular Health (CVH) Plan, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) submitted its response to the Call for Evidence, whose feedback period ended on 17 September.
In continuation of ongoing efforts to support the European Union (EU) with scientific evidence and expertise on promoting equitable access to CVH for all EU citizens, the ESC has had the opportunity to provide input to the Commission and to take part in this collective exercise, which allowed it to set out its key asks through 3 core flagship topics. Reflecting the feedback by its recognized experts and across the cardiology community, the ESC has put forward the following recommendations for consideration in the forthcoming Plan:
1. Embracing the power of AI - Strengthening data collection and use for better patient outcomes
- Strengthen the European Health Data Space by ensuring interoperability and accessibility of cardiovascular data across the 27 Member States.
- Establish Cardiovascular Health Centres of Excellence and integrate them into European Reference Networks.
- Create a European Heart Data Hub linking registries, biobanks, and electronic health records.
- Provide Commission guidance on the use of AI and in silico models, ensuring validation, governance, and safeguards against algorithmic bias
2. Tackling inequalities across gender, geography, and generations
- Boost EU investment in cardiovascular research through Horizon Europe, the Competitiveness Fund, and FP10.
- Develop a network of Cardiovascular Centres of Excellence to ensure equal access to care and innovation.
- Mandate sex-disaggregated and regionally inclusive data collection, and fund projects dedicated to women's cardiovascular health, geographic inequalities and multi-morbidities in the elderly.
- Step up EU actions on rare cardiovascular diseases through registries, reference networks, and funding for innovation.
- Foster public-private partnerships to accelerate research and uptake of breakthrough therapies.
3. Improving EU population health for more resilient societies
- Adopt an EU Council Recommendation on a cardiometabolic health check and launch EU-wide screening for high-risk conditions such as atrial fibrillation, heart failure, and inherited cardiomyopathies.
- Strengthen cardiovascular rehabilitation to reduce mortality, assure a return to normal life and work and support psychological well-being.
- Address healthcare workforce shortages through training, mobility, and retention strategies.
- Incorporate vaccination and environmental risk reduction into health promotion and prevention strategies.
- Ensure cardiovascular health is recognised as a matter of economic and security resilience, including for military preparedness.
Professor Thomas F. Lüscher, ESC President, stressed that "Europe has an unprecedented opportunity to save lives, reduce inequalities, and strengthen resilience by making cardiovascular health a long-standing policy priority. The EU Cardiovascular Health Plan can position the EU at the forefront of prevention, research, and innovation, if it is equipped with the necessary resources and instruments - appropriately reflecting the weight of the cardiovascular disease burden - to deliver measurable impact for citizens across the EU".
With the Plan expected to be published at the end of the year and the challenge of ensuring its effective implementation, the ESC stands ready to provide expertise through the voice of over 100,000 cardiovascular professionals and to support the Commission in delivering a truly groundbreaking strategy.
